The scriptures are very explicit about God being just. Laying aside the issue of men like the Darwins who had years to accept or reject the Anglican and other versions of Christianity, there are billions of people today, and other billions in the past, who do not have the freedom to really hear and accept the message of Jesus Christ. This is through no fault of their own, but is due to circumstances such as the tyranny of governments and societies (e.g. Chinese and Muslim), or bad timing about dying before Christ’s resurrection story was carried by missionaries into the world, as late as the 1800s in many cases. This is not a subjective issue of personal feelings versus scripture, since the scriptures insist that God is just and fair, and those terms have to have meaning within human understanding if we are to have faith in them.

So regardless of how one thinks God might deal with good people you know who have not accepted Christ as their redeemer, the great bulk of the problem is God’s own affirmation of his justice, alongside Christ’s affirmation that salvation only comes through him. Some theologians argue that there is scriptural warrant in the First Epistle of Peter, about Christ preaching to the spirits in prison, and the ancient tradition of the Harrowing of Hell, to believe that God is not done with people when they die, but that the time between death and the First Resurrection is also part of God’s dominion, and the residence there of the dead who await resurrection gives God ample opportunity to offer every person who has lived on earth the choice of knowingly accepting–or even rejecting–Christ as their Savior.

Does this concept, one with ancient roots, contradict scripture? That is not clear to me. Does it in any way diminish Christ’s role as Savior? No, it rather extends the power and reach of Christ. Does it offend God’s justice? No more than when a sinner repents and embraces Christ before his death.

And then there are the billions of young children who died before they could even make competent moral judgments of eternal consequence. When Christ told his disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven is made for children, we should question any interpretation of scripture (that human element again) that would slam the door on the very children that Jesus held up as an example of those deserving a place in Heaven.

I may not be willing to embrace an automatic universalism, but I think there are good arguments to be made that the Bible and the picture it tells us about God and Christ gives us objective reasons to be optimistic about the breadth of Christ’s saving power.

Blessing to you and yours.

To be fair, I think we probably agree on a great many things “clearly stated in Scripture”, but (like most Christians) not on all. It is a wonder, but I would not expect otherwise — being fallen creatures and all.

A blessed weekend to you and yours.

I guess I can’t help but wonder, why you and I disagree on those things stated clearly in Scripture, those things you say which can be known with certainty, revealed truth from the mind of God, and written down in propositional form in the truth of Scripture, with those things confined only to the counsel of God.

Ah, well, conversation for another day, my friend. Thanks for your feedback, and blessings to you and your family. May your sermon this Sunday be filled with the enlightenment that comes only from on High, and may your listeners be awakened, challenged, and inspired to live out the Gospel of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thanks for the kind words. We are largely agreed, I believe. Certainly it is the case that the contemplation of our eternal destiny can reap great spiritual benefit in our lives. My point was to separate theological knowledge of one kind (that which we can know with certainty) from another (that which remains, ultimately, confined to the counsels of God).

That is not to say that there aren’t some things which, despite being confined to the counsels of God, we might not offer some speculation or consideration. Nor is it to deny that some speculations of that sort, may be edifying….

Have a great weekend.

Jesus Himself talks a lot about judgment and Hell, condemning the Pharisees as a brood of vipers, and concluding, …’how shall you escape the sentence of hell?’ (Matt.23:33).

I realize, as God, this is His prerogative to make, since He alone knows the heart of a man. In that sense, we, being finite, can never know as completely as God does the heart action of any one individual, but I can’t help but think that the Scriptures do ask us to evaluate and judge actions, and to ponder that distinction raised within the question of ‘Who will spend eternity in heaven?’, and ‘Who will spend eternity in hell?’

You may agree that, yes, the question is legitimate, and we all ought to rightly ponder it, and seek on how one satisfies the demands of God, so that we may enjoy the one and avoid the other, but the ‘declaration’ and ‘final decision’ is God’s alone. To that I would heartily concur.

I am no great theologian, but I’ve read some… Here is what the Westminster Divines say about assurance in the Cathechism:

Q: Can true believers be infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace and that they shall persevere therein unto salvation?
A: Such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavor to walk in all good conscience before Him (1 John 2:3) may, without extraordinary revelation, by faith grounded upon the Truth of God’s promises, and by the Spirit enabling them to discern in themselves those graces to which the promises of life are made (1 John 3:14, 18, 19, 21, 24, etc.), and bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God (Rom. 8:16), be infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace and shall persevere therein unto salvation (1 John 5:13; 2 Tim. 1:12).”

Therefore it seems to me to be that assurance comes to us based on a firm grasp of the truth found in the revelation of Scripture and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit “witnessing to our spirit” that we are God’s child. One of the Scripturally defined ministries of God’s Spirit therefore is as the one who assures us of our salvation.

OTOH the determination of damnation is solely God’s — a function of His justice. We only know God’s mind insofar as he chooses to reveal it. And this is not something He chooses to reveal to us with any degree of certainty…

Hope that gets toward and answer…

is nothing more than lighthearted parody of current Christian issues, produced to invoke and honor the spirit of bygone days when Christian organizations such as this were committed to grounding themselves fully in the standard of God’s word, and were not ashamed to stand firm for the sake of the true Gospel.

As a follow-up to Comment #16, see the following Cartoon.

Thanks Steve.

And if absolute certainty is the measure by which the Christian Correctness Police assess discussions about eternal destinations for people, then *NO ONE* should say that any dead person is going to Heaven. Using their own measure, the Christian Correctness Police don’t have absolute certainty about whether some dead person goes to Heaven. Only God has absolute certainty about that.

So when is the Christian Correctness Police going to start banshee shrieking about Pastors conducting funerals who say that the deceased is now in Heaven with God. These pastors don’t have absolute certainty to say that according to the Christian Correctness Police.